


Definitely Should've Paid More Attention In Climbing Class

by kiah



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Climbing Class, Fluff, M/M, implied bath lesbians, jurassic park to get u in the mood, just read it, mountain gays, prince x doctor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2015-09-21
Packaged: 2018-04-22 16:46:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4842914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiah/pseuds/kiah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been one year since the disappearance of the Washington twins, but the gang's all back on Blackwood Mountain. What does this mean for best pals Josh and Chris, who've been fighting more than remorse and sadness. </p><p>au: where there is no psycho bc josh gets proper therapy<br/>and support from his friends and stays on his meds and his therapist thinks for<br/>some reason it would be a good idea to go back to the mountain to find<br/>closure</p>
            </blockquote>





	Definitely Should've Paid More Attention In Climbing Class

**Author's Note:**

> \-----------------------  
> Thank you to all of my tumblr followers! you've really inspired me to get this shit out there. love u all. maybe this will even turn into a multiple parter, fighting the wendigos.. until dawn ;)

One year of police tapes and interrogations had gone by. One year of sheets soaked in tears and restless nights soaked in guilt. Then, the invitations were sent out.

Josh's exterior almost cracked through the sloppy grin that used to dominate his face before his sisters disappeared. Lucky the world can only see when the camera is recording. His body shakes; Josh can't believe he is going back to his own personal hell. Closure or not, the open ended question of his younger sisters' ' dead or alive' dilemma was enough to keep anyone awake at night.

Exactly one year after the disappearance of Beth and Hannah Washington, the gang returns to Blackwood Mountain. 

Chris reaches the lodge with Sam, after leaving Jess at the cable car station to wait for Mike... apparently her new boyfriend. That was a bit of a surprise, and Matt and Emily are together too, apparently. The group is fracturing as he breathes in the mountain air. The mountain air that was, at this very moment, cutting him to the bone. Shivering, he waits by the door when Josh appears. 

Suddenly his chest was warm, and the chill doesn't sting as much. "Cochise!" Josh calls, reaching out an arm to pull Chris into a bro hug. Both pals grin as they pull apart. "Did you get up here alright?" Josh asks

"More or less." Chris shrugs, accompanying his best friend to the door. 

"Damn it!" Josh murmurs under his breath.

"Is it iced over?" Chris asks as the brunette hits the frozen door. 

"No shit Sherlock." Josh teases.

"There has to be another way in."

"There are lots of ways in, they're just all locked."

"Maybe there's a window we can…find a way into?"

Josh stands, "Are you suggesting we break in ?"

Chris shrugs, "is it really breaking and entering if you own the building?"

Josh grins, "You've always got the brightest ideas, don'tcha  
Cochise?"

Chris's blush was hidden, thankfully, by the wind rubbing his face to a raw red. He silently followed Josh around the lodge. Chris is too tied up in his own thoughts about Josh and how tight Josh's jeans were. 'Maybe he should've worn skinny jeans when he was climbing the rope junior year,' Chris's subconscious suggests. The rational part of his brain snaps out of it, embarrassed, just in time to hear Josh make some lewd comments about Chris getting with Ashley. 

"...snow angels with her..."

Chris's nose crinkles up, "Come on man, have a little bit of respect." He wasn't into that, or even  
Ashley for that matter. But heteronormativity always manages to keep his queerness under the radar. 

Josh shakes his head at Chris's response. The blushing virgin, as Josh liked to call his best friend playfully, had brushed past him to a heavy metal box thing. Josh shivers, probably just the nippy air that accompanied the exchange. 

"Help me with this, would you?" Chris calls.

"Well, well, well, we got ourselves a thinker, nice one" Josh says with a grunt, moving the crate under the window.

Chris climbs on top of the crate, boosting himself into the window. He disappears momentarily. "Ouch." The blond mumbles. 

Josh steps on top of the crate, and peers down through the open window.

"I'm okay.... should've paid more attention in climbing class."

Josh raises an eyebrow with a smirk, "You mean gym?"

"Yeah, yeah, where you had to climb a rope." Chris stands, rubbing his head.

The lightbulb then breaks, plunging the room into darkness. "Did I do that?" Chris asks

"Nah, it was probably old. Here, you take this," Josh tosses a lighter to the blond, "and I will go turn on the generator. I should have some deodorant in one of the bathrooms."

"How's a stick of deodorant going to melt the ice off a door?" Chris asks.

"It's spray on. Come on, get with it. Aerosols plus fire equals?"

"Flamethrower, gotcha." Chris nods.

"Meet me at the front. And God hurry! It's cold out here!" Josh whines, "I think I can feel my balls turning blue.

This time, Chris's blush is noticeable. "Will do." he murmurs, walking out of Josh's sight, into the lodge.

Josh jogs to the shed where he turns on the generator. The power on the mountain flickers on, illuminating its beauty, but not yet highlighting its dangers. By the time Josh returns, Matt, Ashley, and Sam are hooting as Chris yells that he is melting the ice. 

The door swings open and light floods out of the living room, as a wolverine rushes out the front door. "What was that?" Josh asks with a grin.

"A bear or tiger or something." Chris responds nonchalantly.

"Just a wittle baby wolverine!" Sam teases.

"As long as it isn't a grizzly bear, then I don't care." Matt pushes past them with a laugh pushed through chattering teeth. "I'm freezing. Can we please start a fire?"

The oak door shuts firmly behind the five to keep the small amount of warmer air inside. Josh hauls the groceries to the kitchen with Matt's help. Sam throws some logs into the fireplace. Ashley produces a newspaper for kindling. "Alright," Chris flicks the lighter open, "Man make fire!" 

Ashley hands the bespeckled blond the newspaper and he freezes. He carefully peels off the first page, and hands it back to Ashley, "Why don't we keep this one.." He says quietly, tossing the rest onto the logs.

Ashley's eyes grow wide, "I didn't see, I mean, I didn't mean..." The faded black and white photo of Beth and Hannah gently bends beneath her dainty hands.

"Ash, don't worry about it. Just go put it the library or something. Not out in the open." Sam suggests, "Come on, I'll go with you."

The girls leave Chris to himself to stoke the fire to a roaring blaze. He stands, pleased with himself at the blue inner cone, as Jessica and Mike enter with snowy crusted jeans, evidence of whatever misdeeds they partook in at their meeting.

A mumble of hellos echo across the open room as they drop their bags and cuddle up on the couch.

Josh busies himself with asking Matt about how a relationship with Emily came to be. He didn't realize how much he had missed out on this last year. Josh's dad had brought him out to Santa Monica, while his mom organized search efforts and worked closely with the police, to no avail. In Santa Monica, Josh fell asleep on the beach daily, to the sound of the waves, and woke up just in time to grab a burrito and head to his afternoon appointments with the therapist his dad was paying the big bucks for. The medication he was on made it hard to sleep, so he stayed up late into the night writing short movie scripts, and consequently, throwing them away.

 

The short conversation ended with a swift shut of the refrigerator door by Matt, due to the sound of Jessica and Emily raising their voices. Matt rushes out of the kitchen to the defense of his girlfriend. Josh follows, interested in the source of the drama. 

'Emily calling Jessica a slut, how original. Ironic even.' Josh thinks, before stepping in.  
"Mike, why don't you and Jess go up to the cabin I was telling you about." He makes a point to wink dramatically.

Chris watches Josh escort the fuming blonde and her boyfriend out of the lodge. He wasn't quite sure, but Chris thought he could vaguely make out steam coming from Em's ears. Of course her rage can't be dampened out so easily. She turns to Matt, livid." Where's my bag?"

"Um, right there..." Matt says, a stupid decision on his part, pointing to a nice quilted duffle bag.

"No! My pink bag, the one I got one Rodeo!" Emily details with frustration.

"Maybe you just forgot it?" Matt suggests a few minutes later after being viciously assaulted by claims of infidelity and 'drooling over a sales girl'.

Emily was very clear that she did not forget her purse, and that the sales girl did not give a shit about Matt's designer letterman jacket, much to his dismay.

 

Chris stood there awkwardly listening to this squall, deciding to shed his outer layer, now that his expert fire was warming the room. Ashley and Sam returned, thankfully. They both were a bit flushed, though the library couldn't have been that cold. 'Curious.' Chris mentally noted.

Emily drags Matt outside, telling those remaining inside that they would be back soon. 

Josh comes back inside just in time to call out, "Hurry back! We can't party like porn stars if it's just me and the virgin parade!"

Sam takes her open palm and smacks the back of his head.

"What? It's true. Unless... Sammy is it true?"

 

"Oh please, as if you would know anyways." She crosses her arms. "I just want some hot water for a bath." 

"Well a-hot-water-huntin' we will go! Come on gang." Josh announces, leading the way to the basement, Sam close behind. This leaves Chris and Ashley to bring up the rear.

"Sorry about the newspaper thing," Ashley mumbles, "I didn't even think..."

"Hey--" Chris cuts her off gently, "It's alright. Don't worry about it. I just thought... it would be better if Josh didn't have to see it."

"Okay Lovebirds," Josh says loudly, pulling them out of their private conversation. "We know you aren't plotting to hop a train to the bone zone, so."

Ashley turns a faint shade of red, and Chris can feel his face burning. "Dude."

Josh shrugs, "Come on Sammy, let's leave these two to pick a movie." They disappear into the basement.

"You can pick a movie if you want, but I have a better idea..." Chris mumbles to Ashley.

Five minutes later, the water in the lodge could scald you. Oh, and also Sam and Josh are running for their lives. Sam is the banging on the basement door, and Ashley is trying not to giggle as she holds it shut.

Chris can't take it any longer and pulls off his hood. "Were you a part of this?" an enraged Sam asked Josh.

He cackles, "No, but I wish I was." Josh unlocks the door, to no avail, since it wasn't locked.

"Ashley, come on! Let us out!" Chris shouts.

Only silence comes from the other side of the door. It slowly creaks open. "No way. I'm not going first." Sam states, crossing her arms.

 

Chris sighs, stepping forward. Josh was right on his heels. Sam follows tentatively. Just as he was about to turn and tell Sam, 'see, everything is just fine', Ash jumps out with a shriek.

Sam screams. Josh screams. Chris screams. Josh thought he felt his heart leave his chest for a moment. Out of instinct, he reaches forward and grabs Chris's arm. 

Ashley cackles maniacally, "I gotcha!!"

"That was not part of the plan, Ash!" Chris protests.

Josh pulls his hand away, lingering to long on the notion to just link arms instead.

 

"I think I'm going to go take a nice, soothing, relaxing bath now." An exasperated Sam says, brushing past them.

"I think I'll... go put my bag away.... and stuff..." Ashley mumbles, her eyes following Sam up the stairs. After a few moments, she hurried after Sam.

"Looks like it's just me and you, Cochise." Josh nudges his buddy.

Chris grins, with a thumbs up, "I need me some good bro time."

As they enter the cinema center, Josh cackles. "That sounds like such a euphemism." 

Chris shakes his head quickly, "No, dude, not like that." He runs his words together, flipping on the lights.

Josh lets a string of swear words fall from his tongue. "This is gonna take like five minutes to get working."

"I'll go grab some beers then." Chris excuses himself, mentally kicking himself as he approaches the stairs. 

Two beers have already disappeared out of a six pack in the fridge when Chris opens it. He pulls out the cardboard carrier, the glass clinking in an almost musical rhythm.

 

He tosses a bag of popcorn in the microwave, listening to the kernels explode. There was a strange sort of serene-ness on the mountain this year. It was welcomed, but slowly nibbled on your nerves. It was wrong that Blackwood Mountain could be so beautiful, after the great tragedy that occurred last year.

The microwaved beeped, snapping Chris away from his thoughts. Absentmindedly, he clutches the pack of beer, and reaches into the microwave for the popcorn. "Shit!" He shouts, dropping the popcorn. 

Josh turns away from the now working tv, not letting his prideful grin melt away, when Chris enters the room. "Dude, Cochise, what the fuck happened?"

Chris was carrying the beer and a bowl of popcorn in one arm so he could hold a wet washcloth to his thumb and forefinger. "I burnt myself. I'm fine though."

"It doesn't look that fine." Josh takes the beers and puts them in cup holders. 'Perfect for double fisting,' he would've said if Chris wasn’t injured.

"I just tried to pick up the popcorn bag and it was too hot, clearly. I was just being dumb."

Josh takes the bowl of popcorn. "Well, do you want me to kiss it and make it better?"

"Excuse me?" Chris asks, trying to deadpan as Josh turned back around to face him. 

"I'm kidding, genius."

"Well it didn't sound like you were kidding, dumbass."

"Shut up and get your ass on the couch so we can watch this movie." Josh commands with a smirk.

"Ooh, kinky." Chris teases, sitting down.

Josh groans plopping down next to him, "At least I have good ole Doctor Ian Malcolm, right."

Chris rolls his eyes, as the Jurassic Park theme plays, pressing play. "You're a geek."

"You're a nerd." Josh teases back.

Josh watches as Chris presses his lips together, trying to form a response. For a short moment, Josh can see a flicker of Chris's tongue as he presses it against his lip. This was Chris's thinking face. Many a study session had been fucked over for Josh because of nothing more than this face trying to translate a German spelling or decode and algebraic equation. It drove him crazy and he struggled to ignore it.

"Well... you're not wrong. I'm sorry, I don't have a retort. You're just too good."

Josh teases, "Maybe you should take lessons. It would improve your skills."

"How to totally rek(t) your best friend, an in depth one on one class with Josh Washington." Chris says, pretending he is reading a pamphlet. 

Josh reaches for a handful of popcorn, "For the low, low price of....." so many things run through Josh's head, each one worse than the one before it. "Passing me that pillow." He decides aloud. If this is where the night is going, he best prepare. 

Chris tosses a pillow into Josh's lap with his good hand. "Crack open my beer, if you would be so kind, sir." He jokes.

Josh opens a beer and hands it to his pal, "For his royal highness, Prince Christopher Rupert Windmere Vladimir Karl Alexander François Reginald Herman---"

"Herman?"

"Herman Gregory James the third, his royal beer." 

Chris chuckles, taking a swig, "My knight in shining armor."

Josh smiles to himself, turning back to the screen. They watch the movie silently for a while. The only noises are the beer bottles returning to the cup holders and the crunching of popcorn.

Suddenly, a animatronic T. rex comes out of nowhere with a roar. Chris yelps, jumping. His hand lands on Josh's. "Christ. I knew that was coming but it scared the shit out of me anyways." 

Josh looks at their hands, Chris looks at Josh looking at their hands, Chris looks their hands and begins to pull away. Josh doesn't say anything, he just looks back at the screen, interlocking their fingers.

Chris decides to be nonchalant, turning back to the screen. He pulls the popcorn bucket into his lap with his free, not as damaged hand. 

Josh is trying to make his heart not beat so loudly. He rubs his thumb in small circles on the back of Chris's hand.

There is a quick hitch in Chris's breath, as he is terribly surprised in this advancement. He reaches deep down into the popcorn bucket and fills his mouth with popcorn.

Josh looks at Chris, locking eyes with him as Josh's free hand reaches into the bowl. Chris's heart pounds, grateful that he can chomp down on the popcorn, like the popcorn Josh was dropping into his mouth, one kernel at a time, teasing Chris.

"Dude, you're distracting me from the dinosaurs." Chris pushes out of his dry mouth.

Josh raises an eyebrow, "My apologies, your highness." He jokes, reclining back to his seat, taking his hand with him.

Another half hour of comfortable silence melts past, and Chris has drained both of his beers. "Aw fuck!" He yelps, mishandling the bottle cap with his burnt fingers again.

"What happened?" Josh shoots up from his relaxed position, now alert and attentive. 

"It's whatever." Chris mumbles, standing up. "I'm going upstairs to bandage it and get another beer."

"Well, I'm coming too. I've seen this movie a million times." Josh stands, grabbing the four empty beer bottles. 

Chris cradles his hurt hand as they trek up to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Chris runs his hand under water, as Josh hunts for bandages.

"Here we go," Josh says, holding a first aid kit, "Okay, so sit up on the counter."

"Um... why?"

"So I can be a doctor, Duh. All patients sit on the counter."

"In a doctor’s office, maybe, not in a kitchen dumbass." Chris protests.

"Doctor Washington insists." Josh says with a smirk. "Now get up!"

Chris sighs, "If it's what the doctor orders..." Chris hops on the counter.

Delicately, Josh takes Chris's injured hand. He holds it up and inspects it. "You really fucked it up." Josh grabs the bandage and takes special care in wrapping the burnt fingers. Josh holds the bandaged fingers up near his face. 

"Uh, alright, Doc." Chris mumbles nervously, "What else do you prescribe?"

"I told you earlier," Josh says, his eyes darting up to meet Chris's. "I have to kiss it to make it better."

Chris's heart pounds as he watches Josh bring his hand to his lips. Josh softly presses his lips to Chris's fingers. "There." Josh pulls away.

"All better." Chris murmurs.

A few moments of awkward silence ensues as their eyes dart around the more-than-friendly embrace that just happened in front of them. 

"I'm…" Josh stops in the middle of his apology, as Chris is staring down at his lips, his thinking face almost taunting Josh again.

 

'Fuck it' ,they both decided, almost simultaneously. Chris leans down as Josh swiftly pulls his pal into him. They collide, careful of Chris's hand, which is now gently placed on the back of Josh's neck. Josh pulls Chris more and more into his arms, needing to kiss more and more of him. 

Josh opens his mouth and Chris's tongue snakes in. They were so focused on finally breaking this sexual tension they didn't notice Chris was slowly, precariously teetering on the counter edge. Josh bites Chris's lip, eliciting a gasp from the blond. He leans into Josh, and to both of their surprise, Chris falls into Josh, landing them both on the kitchen floor.

"Should've paid more attention in climbing class." Josh mumbles from underneath Chris. 

Chris laughs and leans over Josh, he can feel their breath mingling, "I, for one, think it's a good idea that I didn't."


End file.
